George Colbert's stand sat atop the ridge before you. As one of many inns that dotted the Trace between Nashville and Natchez, it provided travelers with food and lodging.

With a Scottish father and Chickasaw mother, George Colbert used his bilingual abilities and knowledge of both cultures to build a network of enterprises. As a Chickasaw, he gained the right, by treaty, to operate a ferry across the Tennessee River.

One traveler, Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, described the stand that Colbert built near his ferry as "a country place." Unlike other frontier buildings, it had an "abundance of glass in windows and doors."

"I find all the Indians on the road, and particularly the Colbert family, are very accommodating to us, we shall be tolerably well supplied in passing through the [Chickasaw] nation..."Colonel John Coffee
War of 1812

(caption)As the end of the day nears, post riders and travelers on the Old Trace gather at Colbert's stand.

Erected Natchez Trace Parkway, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior